Les Champignons de France by Saint Armand

September heralds the start of mushroom foraging season, particularly in Europe, where discerning an edible fungus from its deadly counterpart is an art form.

Many years ago, the hilarious “A Year in Provence” series by Peter Mayle introduced me to the entire concept of seasonal food. Growing up with a typically British diet that featured a rotation of workaday meals, I was intrigued by a way of life that centred around appreciating and enjoying food at its seasonal peak. Mushrooms, though humble in appearance, make a significant contribution to the French repertoire of succulent offerings.

Thus, when Les Champignons de France by Saint Armand, a set of six plates in their own wonderful bark container, swam into my view on eBay one day, I was inspired to honour the fungi in a table setting.

I did a bit of internet digging, and oh my heavens, there are hundreds of different kinds of mushrooms! Who knew? For those of us who confine our mushroom consumption to Cremini, Shitake and the occasional Morel from the produce section at the local grocers, this was a whole new world! I recognized this one, though, with its formal name of Cantharellus Cibarius. It’s what we know as a Chanterelle,

Cantharellus Cibarius

Bollus Collinitus (sounds like a nasty disease, doesn’t it?) is actually Suillus collinitus of the Bollus family. According to First Nature, it’s found most commonly in southern European countries, grouped beneath large pine trees, who provide shade in the otherwise dry sandy soil.

Bollus Collinitus

Without taking an advanced degree in Mushroom Identification, I will venture to suggest these are edible mushrooms, given that they are on plates, but who knows?

This one, Cortinarius Punclalus is from the genus Cortinarius, which The Mushroom Expert tells us is the largest genus of mushrooms in the world, containing literally thousands of species. My Latin is very, very sketchy, but I’m tempted to say Punclalus sounds like it might be on time. It is not one of the 22 species listed the Mushroom Expert’s page, which does include species trivialis, anomalus and mucosus leading me to conjecture they’re insignificant, incognito contributors to New York Times articles, and have a cold.

Cortinarius Punclalus

These cement planters from Pier 1 made a rustic contribution. I filled them with moss-covered and plain grapevine leaf balls, with bits of reindeer moss tucked in.

The antler-shaped napkin rings are from Ballard Design. They’re made of resin, so not quite a sturdy as I would like. I had to repair a couple that arrived damaged.

They were on a great sale (probably due to their delicacy) and I ordered them at the same time as the Pagoda Lanterns. I thought they’d get a lot of use for fall tablescapes or Robert Burns type dinners. The napkins are from Pier 1 earlier this year.

The curvy green edging of the mushroom plates seemed to coordinate well with the shell-edged Williamsburg plates. (Rats, I see some water from the hydrangea has dripped on the runner…)

The chargers are from Pier 1 last year and the Danieli Flatware is from World Market.

Marasmus Graminum

I’ve had these little mushroom salt & peppers for years. They came from Pottery Barn.

And the last of the six plates, Psalliota Pratensis, which sounds like a pretentious skin condition. No wonder Latin is a dead language.

Psalliota Pratensis

All that mushroom talk was making me hungry, so I made a Mushroom Strudel to take to a friend’s house to use as an appetizer.

We have so much to celebrate by way of food in the fall! Mushrooms, apples and plums for a start. Yum!

This coming weekend, the daughter of a close friend is getting married and the mother of the bride asked me to make the flower arrangements. This seemed very doable and a fine idea a year ago when she suggested it. In the cold, practical light of day, however, comes the hollow realization that I’ve never done anything on that scale before. I hope her confidence is not misplaced! I’ve have had more than a few moments of panic in the intervening period of time, let me tell you. How I wish 3 am had never been invented.

Then there is the matter of the cupcakes. My daughter Lauren, the chef, is coming out to help me decorate the four dozen of each vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for the same event. I baked them yesterday and they’re currently in the freezer awaiting decoration Saturday morning. We’re going to use a lemon curd filling for half the vanilla and a raspberry filling for half the chocolate. Wish us luck! I’ll provide pictures and an update next week. It will be an adventure!

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12 Comments

Maura Gartland
on September 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

Never knew there were so many different species of mushrooms. We called them toad stools when we were little. Just adorable plates! Good luck on your flower arranging for the wedding and cupcakes. I remember when you told me about this. It seemed so long ago and now the big day is finally here. I’m sure you and Lauren will do a magnificent job. Have fun.

The GREEN BURPLE goblets were my mother’s, which she possibly acquired in the 1950’s or earlier. Since I never used the Thomas Long’s, I never paired the two. I have not used the BURPLEs either, but now that I’ve seen them in your Tablescape, I might see how they go with my GIEN Oiseaux de Paradis every-day china.

Both the Fostoria Colonial Dame and the Green Burple are available in abundance on eBay – so similar as you note, but so far apart in price. Odd what a difference a manufacturer’s name can make.

If you love Peter Mayle as much as I do, try A Good Year, a hilarious novel made into a more hilarious film (Russell Crowe and Albert Finney). Here the chanterelles are out in force…just spotted my neighbour come home from foraging with what appeared to be a quart of them! If we are uncertain of their safety, we can take them to the town Apoteke (apothecary), where they ID. Don’t feel bad; I’ve forgotten all 5 years of Latin, but I know enough to stay away from mucosa. lol. My other neighbour gave me a kilo of her Italian plums (dusky purple ovals with an ashy bloom on the skin). I’ve prepared the bread sweet-dough base and the almond streusel, but the perfume of the fruit is driving me mad while the dough rises. If your wedding florals are up to your normal standard, I’m sure you’ll acquit yourself royally…and who can resist a cupcake??

That is one of my favourite books of Peter Mayle’s, but I wasn’t aware of the movie. Thanks! How scrumptious to have a town apothecary to verify mushroom edibility (if that’s a word). I’ve got a basket of purple plums sitting on my counter, awaiting inclusion in a plum skillet cake. I’m going to visit my inlaws tomorrow and taking braised lamb shanks for dinner, along with a plum cake. Nana, as we call her, is 89 and it’s her favourite cake 🙂
The flowers are all done and sitting in our cool garage, awaiting transport. Lauren arrived toward the end of the dinner party last night. After a glass of wine, she proceeded to whip up the cream cheese frosting and decorate the carrot cake “topper”. We’re going to tackle the decoration of all the cupcakes this morning then load up the car and go! Whew!

Hope the wedding went smoothly…made me think of the only time I’ve been roped into that scenario. Years ago, a panic call from a friend with a catering company in Santa Barbara. Could I catch the next plane? His cook-partner’s water had just broken, and they had an alfresco wedding booked in 2 days. Bride’s family flying in from Italy. Yikes. I arrived to one Helper and Jon in a tizzy. Threw 80 lbs each of salmon, steaks, and chicken into the marinating bins…made all the salads and their respective dressings, pesto for the pasta salad, crudité dips, etc. While Jon was at the venue setting up, pony-tailed Birkenstock’d Helper and I loaded the van. When I asked him to carry out the protein, Helper said in a horrified voice, “Flesh!? I don’t touch FLESH!!!!!” Sigh. On the way to the park, Jon braked hard and one of the gallon Tupperware containers broke loose, skated across the top layer of the wedding cake decorated with a crown of fresh cymbidium orchids, and landed with a sickening Tupperware * burp * on the floor of the van, spilling its dippy contents. We arrived, employed other orchids to cover the skid marks, and the show went on. 350 guests had a perfect BBQ on a lovely sunny day, and no one was the wiser…gave me an appreciation for the life of a caterer. In gratitude, Jon handed me an advance copy of a cookbook by an unknown who was creating huge buzz in the industry…Martha Stewart’s “Entertaining.”

Oh my, Beatrice! Thank you so much for this tale. It made me laugh! I can just envision it, and as you say, it sure gives one an appreciation for what caterers deal with, doesn’t it? In this era of food preciousness, the “I don’t deal with FLESH” is only too common. Thank heaven the cake was topped with fresh flowers and not sugar confections! What a hoot. Love the reference to Martha’s beginnings 🙂